Sunsets, Rum, Sand and Gizzadas 97 Days in Negril

[Bluez]

How about Miss Bea for your new little friend. That pic of the Pelicans and Gulls reminds me of boy girl boy girl

[booger]

I'm looking for a Steve Martin The Jerk name......

[Maryann]

Amazing spider photo! Cute kitten; looks like a "Clementine" to me. Really enjoying your trip report and the photos.

[Kahuna3]

I read in Crusher’s TR that he was having some problems with beach hustlers, so I thought I’d relate a minor incident that happened to me the other day in town.

I was walking along the road to Sav, minding my own business. It was early and the whole streetscape was bustling with early-morning activity.

The road was busy. Several buses of varying sizes were coming into town, already loaded with staff heading for the big resorts and stopping along the road to pick up others. One huge bus had a ‘RIU STAFF’ placard propped up in the front window.

Bike taxis buzzed to and fro, vendors were setting up their wares and route taxis beeped their horns every fifteen feet or so. Dogs and goats wandered along the sidewalk and people walked purposefully toward center town.
In other words, it was a normal weekday morning.

As I approached the bus park I spotted a momma and baby goat resting up against a fence. They looked cute so I pulled my camera out, moved in closer, bent over and snapped a photo.
From behind me I heard, “Hey, mister, dats my goats.”

Here we go, I thought. I’ve heard it a thousand times; “Hey those are my banana trees, if you take a picture you have to pay me.”

“That’s my dog. That’s my boat. Dem’s mi chickens. If yuh wan’ take pictcha of mi shop, you ave’ to leave me a likkle someting.” Then the hand goes out.

I usually just laugh, shake my head and walk away. Occasionally I’ll hold the camera up, show them the shot and delete it right there in front of them. That usually elicits an entertaining reaction.

So I stood up and turned around. The guy was standing there with his hand out. He had dreads and was carrying a big load of things on his back. He looked like a vendor of some sort, headed for the bus park.

“Those are your goats?” I asked, knowing full well that they weren’t.
“Yah, mon. You ‘ave to pay me for de picture.”

“I not paying you for the picture, forget it, I said. I started walking away.

The guy was persistent. He stood in front of me and restated, more emphatically, that I owed him money for the picture.
I wasn’t intimidated in the least, but I was beginning to get a little peeved. “Dude, I not paying you anything, and you’re in my way,” I said. And I started walking.

“Mon! You ‘ave to pay me!” he said. He was standing right in front of me, blocking me, with his hand outstretched.
I looked beyond him and noticed that there was a motorcycle cop, dismounted, standing at the entrance to the bus park keeping an eye on things. I’d seen police there often in the mornings.

I pointed to the cop and said to the hustler, “Let’s go ask that cop if these goats belong to you, if they do, I’ll pay you for the photo.”

The guy’s head snapped around and he saw the cop. He looked back at me and kind of smiled. “Come on,” I said, “we’ll ask him.”

The guy smiled at me and stammered and gave his head a little shake. But by then we’d closed the distance to the cop. He was standing with his back to me. The hustler had widened the distance between us and was bookin’ it for the bus park entrance.

“Excuse me officer,” I said. The cop turned around, smiled and said, “Yes?”

I pointed to the hustler, now five paces away. “That gentleman says that those are his goats,” I pointed to the goats, “and he is insisting that I have to pay him for a photo that I took.”

The cop seized on the situation immediately. He turned to the guy, said something in patois and beckoned him over. The hustler, still with the sheepish smile on his face stopped and shrugged his shoulders. The cop yelled at him and waved him over more forcefully.

I kept on walking so I don’t know what transpired behind me, but I think the guy’s day probably got off to a bad start. Maybe next time he’ll think twice before he tries to put a hustle on a tourist.

The momma goat and kid.


A sign up in Redground


Miss Bea - chillin.

[JitterBug]

i like the name of "miss bea" . . . it suits her . . . kahuna, can you have her fixed? . . . spare her . . .

[Lady Jane]

!

Simply loving this blog and others...fascinating.. will read them until I leave for Negril on March 19th for the first time...awesome..thanks!!!!

juls, you have to read Kahunas book Walk Good while you are in Negril. Its a must

[Lady Jane]

Oh baby goats and a happy cat. Love
I also am learning a lot K3. Thanks for the history lessons

[juls]

I will definitely read that..cannot wait! thanks!

[vikman]

K3
As always lurking and enjoying your reports as I do both of your books. Met you last year on the one love crawl and enjoyed talking to you. Hope your still there when we get there on February 17th you owe me money for taking pictures of my goats we adopted last year LOL.
Nick

[HuskerJohn]

Thanks again! Your observations are so right on. A camera can get you into some strange situations in JA!